EDH: Your Contract has Expired - Competitive Vilis

[Cardinal_T_R_K]

https://deckstats.net/decks/136764/1363501-your-contract-has-expired-comp

[G. Moto]

Villis, broker of blood isn't a bad commander at all with the right deck set up. My only critique is the minimum amount of life gain that the deck currently possesses. The entire deck is centered around you hurting yourself for value but if your commander isn't on board or becomes too expensive to cast then you are really shooting yourself in the foot. Perhaps you could add K'rrik son of yawgmoth to your deck? He himself makes your cards easier to cast and has life link so that you can keep on playing your deck even if your commander isn't out. Bontu's monument gives you cost reduction on your creature spells AND steals health from your opponent while giving you health at the same time. Dread presence would work great in this deck because you can draw as fast as you want and you can also blow up targets while gaining health the same time. My other suggestion is running the sanguine bond and exquisite blood combo if you're trying to be competitive. Have them both out and the moment you gain health your opponents are done. What do you think of these suggestions?

[Cardinal_T_R_K]

G. Moto,

Thank you so much for the feedback as I have been working hard to hone this list as I am in the process of building it. I definitely agree the decks current and main weakness is the severe lack of life gain and on a small side note, minimum protection for vilis. Lets get started with getting vilis to stick. The early game for this deck is to aggressively ramp as fast as possible which mono black does just as well if not better than green. There are currently 17 cards in the deck, including some utility lands, that give me a significant source of ramp in some way or another, and 5 of which physically double my mana as early as turn 3 if not sooner. Having said that, being able to cast vilis early on should not be an issue and re-casting, while a mild hindrance, I don't believe it should be to big of an issue. I can definitely look into finding a slot for swiftfoot boots, or preferably lightning greaves, although they weren't there to begin with as I honestly hadn't taken protecting vilis into much consideration. As for the life gain issue. I currently have four cards listed under my sources of life gain, although each is circumstantial in how much life I specifically gain. however outside of the subsection i do still have exsanguinate as well as K'rrick, who I definitely made room for almost as soon as he was spoiled, and even westvale abbey which flips to Ormendahl who is a bit of a powerhouse in terms of lifelink. The issue with most of those cards, however, are they aren't consistent albeit very synergistic when working as intended. Bontu's monument is not a terrible pick but since I am only running 17 creatures total, including vilis, I'm worried it would end up being a dead card more often than not, not to mention its life gain is rather minimal. Dread presence is a card I did consider but i felt it was ultimately to slow. its effectively a dark confidant but for 4 mana with an alternate ability whenever I play a swamp (which is not bad by any means) however I am running several non-basics, and while urborg is in the list, I feel more often than not I'm likely dropping a utility land and not a basic swamp. On top of that since I am only playing one land per turn, the life gain feels rather minimal at only two per turn compared to the mass amounts of life I will be losing consistently and the card draw effect for 4 mana, i'd much rather play greed. That brings us finally to the exquisite blood and sanguine bonds combo. I honestly hadn't considered it before but it may not be a terrible alternate win condition for the deck in the right circumstances. At that point however I am unsure of what I would trim out of the deck to make room for them, and even then trying to find good cards in the color that can offer a significant and consistent source of life gain.

[Soren841]

Basically you want to cast him turn 3 at the latest and use him to draw cards similarly to Ad Nauseam or Necropotence. Life Gain is irrelevant because he should be a storm deck (Aetherflux Reservoir and Tendrils of Agony) and winning either the turn you cast him or the next.. not a grindy deck.

[Morganator 2.0]

I second the motion of Aetherflux Reservoir. Vilis is a powerful draw engine. So long as you're casting a bunch of spells, Aetherflux wins games.

I've been trying to understand this deck for a while. What's your reason for including recursion? I've been trying to figure it out with no luck.

[Cardinal_T_R_K]

Morganator 2.0

There are a couple reasons I've included some recursion. There isn't a need for a whole lot, especially in terms of creature recursion, but its mostly there to get back creatures that ramp in some form or another or even to get back vilis from the grave with command the dreadhorde or reanimate as opposed to casting him again from the command zone, which conveniently has the added benefit of drawing several cards with the life loss from those two spells. I've included elixir as a back up to decking myself (potentially, albeit unlikely) not to mention it gains some life back. Chainer may be a bit unnecessary although he does give a decent life sink to draw cards with vilis while also retrieving important creatures from my grave or just gaining value from my opponents. This deck is interesting but I've had some issues trying to piece it together and understand it as well. Going the storm route seems super viable, and aetherflux reservoir is an include I had not considered accordingly although I'm seriously considering it now. I was interested in making something that is almost akin to Darien, king of kjeldor, where self damage for value will win me the game but it is a very glass cannon strategy with little room for error. Having said that I don't expect this strategy to be groundbreaking but I believe it can be very potent, it's just a matter of consistency which I feel I am close to achieving.

[Soren841]

Competitive EDH decks don't win through value. Out-valuing your opponent doesn't kill them.

[G. Moto]

I will say that Soren841 isn't too far off. Having a Competitive deck means that it has a pre-determined strategy built into it and the deck is designed to execute that strategy as often and fast as possible. However i will also say that value that propels your deck forward instead of simply going in a circle is important. If you can make extra mana, do it. If you can draw extra cards, do it. If you can maintain a stable board state and remove your opponent's board state quickly and keep them in check, definitely do it. If you're playing mono black you wanna draw your cards, pay your life, reduce the opponent's board state and/or life totals quickly. Sorry about the slow reply but i hope this helps.